Chapter 2
The emergency room at Bryan Memorial Hospital West was relatively quiet when Bridget arrived ten minutes later. She showed her government ID to the woman seated at the registration desk. “I received the call on the emergency line about an unidentified minor who was brought in.”
The woman seated behind the desk studied her credentials and then handed them back. “Yes. You’re with the state?”
“Yes, ma’am. The lucky one on call tonight.” She hoped the woman didn’t ask too many questions because Bridget didn’t have answers, not on her first solo night.
“Detective Westmont is with her. I’ll have an aide take you back.” The receptionist picked up her phone and spoke to someone. “A student will be right up.”
A minute later, a bright young student arrived, her black hair pulled back in a bouncy ponytail. “I’m Lexi, and I’ll take you back to the room.”
Bridget had to grin in response. “You’re pre-med?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You’re a little too excited to be spending your Friday night in the emergency room.”
The pixie grinned as she swiped her ID to open the doors. “It’d been quiet until Officer Westmont arrived. I hope you can figure out who the girl is. She’s in bad shape.” The young woman clamped her lips together as if afraid she’d already said too much.
Bridget held back the questions she wanted to ask because she didn’t want to put the student in a position where she said even more.
In a minute, she’d have a better idea of what she faced anyway.
The overly bright lights glared off the sanitized white floors and ceilings, and she was glad to step into the curtained room.
She stopped the moment she noticed the girl, who looked small in the bed and pale as the sheets she lay against.
“Good luck.” The student stepped back, and Bridget found herself alone in the doorway watching a man study the girl, concern etched into the lines of his face.
He didn’t move as he stood there. He barely breathed, and Bridget didn’t interrupt him.
It felt almost sacred, as if he’d appointed himself as the girl’s guardian.
Did she need one? It was a question Bridget would have to answer as she looked for the girl’s family.
The answer was a qualified yes, because girls didn’t simply turn up without their families, even in cities as relatively safe as Lincoln.
This one had, and her job would be to unravel why.
Had a family member become tired of her?
Had the girl run away from home?
Had she been abducted?
None of the questions represented a good home life.
None of them suggested an easy resolution and a happy outcome.
Why had Bridget left her job with Sydney? She truly had lost her mind to think she could make a difference or make the world a better place. Because as she looked at the girl lying still and alone, she knew that the only thing she could do was fail her.
Just as she failed her brother every day.
The woman behind him had barely breathed since she stepped into the doorway.
Todd wondered who she was and why she lingered there.
There was no reason to be a lookie-loo and stay more than a minute.
The first doctor hadn’t done much other than order a battery of tests. The poor girl had so much blood drawn she’d have called the man Dr. Vampire if she’d been awake. But she wasn’t. She hadn’t flinched when the tech’s needle had entered her skin.
That couldn’t be good.
Todd had needed to look away.
He didn’t do blood.
Or needles.
Or fluids.
He was a big baby.
But he wouldn’t tell the guys back at the precinct.
He had a reputation to maintain. The guy who had a hard exterior.
Who took the hard cases and chased them to the ground.
But he did that to protect himself from feeling too much.
This job could take everything from you if you let it.
He had a feeling this one could take a lot. Who let a young girl disappear?
There was something about her.
She was small.
More than petite.
Something wasn’t okay. But he wasn’t a doctor, so he wasn’t sure what.
He just knew it was something. And he wanted to fix it.
But he couldn’t, and that made him want to hit something, especially since he had a feeling the woman standing in the door was with Children and Family Services, and that wouldn’t mean good things.
Her heart might be in the right place, but he’d seen too many families destroyed by inept employees with a god complex. The good ones got drowned out by the ones who would do what they were going to do—everyone else get out of the way. He hoped this woman fell in the good category.
He eased her direction, catching a glimpse of her in his periphery. Her shoulder-length hair glinted red in the light, but she also looked like she carried a weight on her shoulders. He considered saying something, then decided to wait her out. She’d entered his room.
After another minute, she blew out a breath. “You the one who found her?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He swallowed his orneriness and stuck out his hand for a quick shake. “Detective Todd Westmont, Lincoln PD.”
“Bridget Ellison, Child and Family Services.” She took a small step into the room. Hesitant as if she had bad experiences in hospitals. Interesting. “What can you tell me?”
“She was in an alley by Rosie’s. I administered Narcan on the scene, though she didn’t present like an overdose.
The spray didn’t revive her, but the doctor doesn’t think it’s an overdose.
Not clear what’s going on.” And that concerned him.
She should have come to. Enough time had passed in his opinion.
“Anyone around?”
“Just a kid who called me to the alley, but he left while I was looking for her.” The teen had been vaguely familiar, but in the hunt for the girl, Todd hadn’t placed him. “There’s no name, so her identity is unknown.” He turned to look at the woman. “Guess that’s where you come in.”
“Can you tell me anything about her?”
“I’m afraid not.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “There’s no identification on her. Nothing that indicates where she’s from. I’ll start checking for reports of missing kids, but unless someone has reported her missing or a runaway, it could be hard to identify her.”
Bridget edged closer to the bed. “Who are you?” The words whispered into the room, filled with the whirrs and beeps of machines that created a background cacophony. She turned to him, and her blue eyes took him in with an edge of wariness. “What did the doctor say?”
“Nothing yet. They’re testing her blood sugar and a lot of other things. Filled a lot of vials with blood. Without knowing anything about her, it sounded like it would be a process of elimination to figure out why she’s unresponsive.”
He stifled a yawn. His day had started too early with a domestic hostage situation that had required some intense negotiations before resolving.
Then the day had given way to a series of interviews and paperwork.
He’d been headed home when he’d stopped for gas and a quick pick-up order at Rosie’s, the local bar and grill he liked to frequent.
“There wasn’t anyone around, and I needed to get her here. ”
“I’m not arguing with that. But we’ll need to backtrack to identify her.” Bridget turned back to the girl, straightening her spine, as if pushing her exhaustion away. “Someone is missing her.”
“If they are, we’ll find them. Even if they aren’t, we’ll track down who’s responsible for her.” No one put a girl next to the trash on his watch and got away with it.
“Good. Because she’s my assignment and I need a win.” The exhaustion in her words made it clear how true the sentence was. Her phone vibrated, and she looked at it. A weight seemed to settle on her. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
Todd was surprised by the desire to lift even a portion of her burden. He didn’t even know if she was one of the good ones.
She was putting the phone to her ear before she’d even stepped into the hall.